Like a Knife, Like a Sword, Like a Blade of Ice
by Mimic Teruyo
Summary: When a chance encounter brings Tenshi in touch with Cirno, they both learn something new. Not all learning is for the better, however. Can something be done before Tenshi descends down a path from which she cannot return?
1. Like a Knife

"Are you dead?"

Tenshi opened her eyes to meet a pair of wide, blue eyes staring down at her, and scowled at the stick the owner of those eyes had a moment ago been poking into her flesh.

"Sleep."

"What?"

"It's called sleep. It's nothing like death." Tenshi glared at the ice fairy looming above her. Looming, perhaps was something of a strong word; the ice fairy was too small to really loom over anyone except ladybugs. "What kind of an imbecile are you? And put that thing away!" She slapped the stick away and rolled over on the grass. She had come to this secluded field to be alone, not to be pestered by weaklings.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the ice fairy tilting her head. "You looked dead."

Tenshi scoffed. "Yes, I bet you're an expert on the subject of death. Listen, just because you little gits pop your clogs the moment someone as much as stares at you nastily doesn't mean you actually know anything about death." No point in starting with pleasantries. The fairy would come to hate her sooner or later, and it would be easier for them both if it were sooner.

"I don't wear shoes," the ice fairy said, looking down at her muddy feet.

Tenshi rolled her eyes. "It's called an idiom. Listen, you brat,"

"Cirno," the brat insisted.

"Cirno. Whatever. Listen." Tenshi propped herself up on her elbow and beckoned Cirno over.

Cirno leaned forward. "What is it?"

"Come closer. This is very important."

Cirno obeyed, with the credulous faith of a child. Tenshi kept gesturing at her until she was right by her, then brought her hand to her ear as if to whisper.

"Get lost!"

Cirno jumped into the air as she yelled and staggered backwards, hand on ear. Soon, the initial shock faded, and she glared at Tenshi with all the indignation the little fairy could muster.

"Wanna fight?"

Tenshi chuckled. "Is that really what you want to go with?" Despite herself, she was starting to be entertained. The only reason she had left Bhava-Agra for the day had been to be anywhere else but there, and all she had expected from Gensoukyou was a peaceful nap underneath the clouds. Certainly, some sort of amusement, no matter how dull, would serve to break the bleak monotony of her heavenly existence better far better than the empty corridors and grey fields of her dreams.  
>Cirno puffed out her chest. "Yes it is. You're being a jerk, and I'm going to beat you up to make you less of a jerk."<p>

Unable to control herself, Tenshi threw her head back and laughed. This was some of the of the best comedy, unintentional or not, that she had seen in years.

"You're really challenging me?" she asked, pretending to wipe away tears of laughter. "You, some puny fairy from Gensoukyou, up against a celestial?"

Cirno didn't appear the least bit stymied or hesitant. Although she briefly knitted her brow she soon beamed at Tenshi, hands on her hips. "Yup! Bring it on"

Tenshi snorted, and made the effort to sit up properly, hands in grass. "Nice attitude you have there. I don't know whether I should be impressed or insulted, or if it's merely sheer mindless bull-headedness."

Cirno glared at her. "Are you mocking me?"

"That's my line, squirt," Tenshi replied, rolling her eyes. "Look, even if you're the strongest fairy in Gensoukyou "

"I am. The name's Cirno"

Tenshi snorted. "I heard you the first time around. The strongest fairy in Gensoukyou, huh? Kudos." Based on the look of dismay, even Cirno could tell her words were dripping with sarcasm. Tenshi shook her head. "However, that doesn't mean you can hold a candle to me." She stretched her arms and yawned, then leaned back down, keeping her head up with her hand. "Do you really understand what I am?"

Cirno frowned. "You said you're a celestial."

"So you do have basic hearing comprehension, after all. Good for you. Now, do you actually know what 'celestial' means?"

The frown deepened. "That you live in the clouds?"

"Bzzt!" Tenshi lied back down. "Sorry, but that's not the answer we were looking for."

Cirno blinked rapidly. "But you do live in clouds! Letty said so, and Letty's never wrong!"

Tenshi yawned. She was quite awake now, really, but she hoped to get a rise out of Cirno by feigning utter disinterest. "Letty, whoever that is, isn't completely off-base. However, if there is only one thing you know about celestials, it ought to be something else. She turned on her back and landed the soles of her feet firmly on the ground. Then, with one supple motion, she pushed herself up and straightened up to her full height, towering above Cirno. To her credit, Cirno didn't back down, but kept staring at her. "The real thing you need to know about celestials is that we're more powerful than anyone on earth."

Cirno stared at her. "You lie."

Tenshi grinned maliciously. "Oh, indeed? Do you need proof?"

Cirno folded her arms and stuck her chin up. "Yeah."

Tenshi laughed. The more apparent and seemingly fathomless Cirno's foolishness proved to be, the more Tenshi began to enjoy herself. It was certainly a change of pace: while she did scorn the majority of the inhabitants of Bhava-Agra, their idiocy was of a completely different calibre than that of the earthling ninny before her. "You really know nothing of celestials, do you?" she asked, casually picking up the Sword of Hisou, which she had deliberately left out in the open while she slumbered in hopes something interesting would happen, from the grass. Cirno looked on, still glaring at her fearlessly. "I suppose you do not, if you assumed me dead."

"You didn t look like you were breathing."

"You didn't look close enough. However, while I can't cure your idiocy, I can enlighten you on this matter: celestials cannot die."

"Oh." Cirno digested this new information for a moment. "Are you fairies too?"

Tenshi tossed her hair over shoulder. "Hardly. What happens is that whenever our so-called natural lifespan is depleted, the Ministry of Right and Wrong sends some poor sap to collect our souls. You can guess how well that goes."

When Cirno made no response and merely stared at her, Tenshi sighed. "No shinigami can match a celestial." That wasn't entirely true, but Cirno didn't need to know that. "We simply defeat them and continue on our merry way. What does that say to you? More importantly to you at the moment, my little friend," she leaned in closer grinning as evilly as she could, "What chance do you think you have against me? If I choose to do so, I can simply annihilate you. Danmaku rules? Who's going to stop me if I choose to break them? There is no-one around here who can stop me." Again, Cirno seemed to accept the lie without as much as blinking her eyes. "The shrine maiden who claims to sort out incidents? I defeated her without breaking a sweat."

Cirno stared aback at her obstinately "I'm not scared of you."

"I can't say I'm surprised." Tenshi examined her fingernails, carelessly waving the sword in her other hand in a small arch. "Have you ever heard the saying 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread?'"

Cirno looked on, unblinking. "Still not scared of you." "Indeed? Is that strength, or merely another sign of blithering idiocy?" Tenshi lowered her blade. "Go on, then. Show me what you've got."

Cirno blinked. "Huh?"

Tenshi spread her arms to her sides, leaving herself wide open. "Attack me. Any way you prefer. Show me if you can do as much as a scratch."

Cirno stared at her with her mouth open. "What? Really?"

"Really. Show me what the strongest fairy in Gensoukyou can do."

Cirno still looked puzzled. "But hurting is painful. Why would anyone want that?"

Tenshi rolled her eyes, yet chuckled. "Hurting is painful? I wasn't aware you were a poet on top all your other accomplishments. How old are you?"

"Dunno."

"Assuming you have some decades under your belt, you must know that sometimes, there are times when absolutely nothing happens?" When Cirno nodded, Tenshi continued: "Now imagine one of those boring moments, but instead of lasting hours they last for years and decades and centuries, and never truly go away. Imagine that nothing ever changes, no matter what you do, and it keeps going until you think you're going to die out of boredom, and then it goes further? But you won't die, even then, even though you're starting to believe landing in Hell would be less of a torture than life in Heaven."

Cirno stared at her with a look of apprehension. Perhaps Tenshi had spilled too many of her personal thoughts. But then, what did she care? Who would the stupid fairy tell, and even if she did, what difference would it make? If anything, she felt some of the hideous weight that made it so difficult for her to breathe fall off. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Imagine all that, and perhaps you'll understand why sometimes pain is better than monotony." When Cirno made no response, she grinned. "Not that you can come even close to hurting me. However, if you can somehow accomplish that, you will truly be the strongest fairy in Gensoukyou, if not of all time."

That did the trick. Cirno's eyes immediately narrowed, and she stood up to her full height. "Oh yeah? Just you wait! I'm going to freeze the blood on your veins!"

Tenshi chortled and brought the Sword of Hisou in front of her. "Ready whenever you are."

As soon as she had finished saying those words, she was pelted by a barrage of tiny ice shards. However, what the assault had in spontaneity and volume, it lacked it strength: the shards did nothing but tickle Tenshi.

"That's it?" she asked incredulously. "That's all the strongest fairy in Gensoukyou can manage? No wonder everyone looks down on you."

"I'm just getting started!" Cirno replied, grinning. She didn't appear nearly as nettled as Tenshi had expected: in fact, as soon as she had began to create ice it was as if all of her previous irritation had melted away, and now there was room for nothing but the sheer enjoyment of using one's abilities the way they were intended to be used.

Tenshi laughed derisively. "Oh yes? What are you going to do, turn the ice shards into snowflakes? I'm shaking in my boots"

"You'll see!"

True to her words, Cirno soon created something more impressive: a large snow cone appeared in the miasma of ice surrounding her, not dissimilar to a dagger, looking very sturdy for something that was nothing but water and a little magic. It twirled in the air in front of Cirno, and with an energetic flick of her wrist, Cirno sent it flying towards Tenshi.

Tenshi raised her arms, and the ice dagger hit her at full force right between her ribs. For an instant, she almost felt something. The dagger, having lost its momentum, fell, and ricocheted from her boot onto the grass. Tenshi raised her foot, and snapped the dagger in half with one merciless stomp of her boot. The dagger showed some resistance, more than Tenshi had expected, but based on the look on Cirno's face as the broken shards flew through the air, not as much as the ice fairy had expected.

"Very well, you have now showed me more or less what I expected. Unfortunately, I expected you to utterly disappoint me. Is that it, then?"

"You want more?" Cirno laughed cheerfully, like it was a pleasantly sparring match between friends and not an affront to her and her entire race. "Okay, let me show you the final form of that attack! Ice Sign: Ice Lance!"

The miasma of frost intensified once more, to the point where Tenshi could barely make out the outlines of her opponent. The mist solidified into another dagger, then kept building up from there: the dagger became a spear, then a lance, taller than Cirno was high, taller than Tenshi herself. Beaming with pride, Cirno waved her hands until the lace was aimed squarely at Tenshi, then focused intently.

"Catch this!" she bellowed, and with one push hurled the lance at Tenshi.

Tenshi rolled her eyes. If the dagger hadn't hurt, a larger version of the same rot wouldn't either. Thus, instead of waiting for the lance to hit, she braced herself of swift movement and brought her hands to her front. One dodge, one grab would be all she needed to completely humiliate Cirno.

Effortlessly, Tenshi dodged the ice lance just before it collided with her. Then, with a near instant movement, she turned and caught the lance at her free hand, countless years of practice put into combat to ameliorate the drudgery of existence paying off wonderfully. Or rather, depressingly, as the moment she caught the lance she dreamed it could have pierced her heart instead.

"Pathetic," she snarled, disgusted with both Cirno and herself. She shouldn't have expected anything from a fairy, after all, but it was still disappointing to find out she was full of nothing but hot air. "Is that really the best you can do?"

Cirno pushed her chin up. "You say that, but that ice is unbreakable! Nothing but sunlight can beat it!"

Tenshi snorted. "We shall see about that." She took a firm grip of the lance and squeezed it tightly, intending to shatter it into innumerable pieces.

The ice wouldn't crack. Tenshi narrowed her eyes and squeezed harder.

Nothing. The ice remained as solid as ever.

Snarling, Tenshi began putting actual effort into her grasp, her grip like a vice. She glared at Cirno confidently, knowing she still had more than enough strength in her body to get through the task, but simultaneously pleased that the ice fairy had managed to surprise her after all...

She suddenly felt a horrible stinging pain as her palm was cut open, and relaxed her grip, eyes widening. She took the lance into her undamaged hand, wincing a little as it had been rather deeply embedded into her hand, and looked at the damage it had done.

In her grip, the honed edges of the lance had grown sharper and sharper, and due to the strength of the ice it had became sharp enough to cut deep into her flesh. She looked in amazement at the shallow cuts just beneath her fingernails, and with nostrils flaring at the sight of the deep, jagged line slicing her palm wide open. Droplets of crimson blood fell onto the blades of grass below, and she turned her palm downwards to allow the blood flow freely. It no longer hurt, but it still stung, in a way that was both mortifying and absolutely wondrous.

She looked at Cirno with new eyes. The ice fairy had her hands on her hips, and she looked at Tenshi with a serious expression unbecoming on her childish face. To think that this brat could conjure up something that could draw her, Tenshi Hinanawi's, blood!

"What was your name again?" she asked, discarding the ice lance.

Cirno puffed up her chest. "Cirno."

"Yes. Cirno." Tenshi squeezed her damaged hand shut, and idly looked at the blood oozing out of her closed fist. "I will remember your name." A dark, vengeful part of her wished to now show Cirno the full extent of her offensive output and mop the meadow with her. On the other hand, the part of her entrenched in ennui and desperate for any surprises was so impressed by Cirno that it wished to leave the silly fairy alone for at least the time being. She ought to leave some excitement for another day. "You have now been promoted from a pointless pest to a nuisance. So hail to you," she made a mocking bow with a flourish, but discovered to her great surprise as she bowed her head that she partially meant it. "Cirno, the strongest of all fairies."

Cirno beamed proudly. "Told ya so! Will you come play again sometime?"

Tenshi glowered at Cirno, but with an ever-spreading smile that appeared to be all Cirno saw, as her own smile remained unchanged. "Oh, yes. I will be certain to come and play again." She stroked the still bleeding cut in her hand with the fingers of the same hand, and raised them to her eye level, now dyed red, looking at them with wonder.

Cirno frowned. "Do you need something for that cut?"

"Hmm?" Tenshi shook her head. "No. I like it this way." When Cirno's frown only deepened, she smile. "So, until we meet again..." With one leap, she left Cirno, the meadow, and all of Gensoukyou behind.

* * *

><p>Tenshi sat up in her cot and looked out of the round window of her room. A pale moon, closer to Heaven than to any inch of Gensoukyou, loomed in the horizon, casting the gardens and buildings in a nigh ethereal light. In a distance, she heard the sound of the never-ending carousing and merriment of her brethren: laughter, music, snippets of song.<p>

Tenshi curled back into her bed, the black ball of hatred she had been nursing in her chest coiling out and feeding her thoughts. Her bed was sickeningly soft, the endless pure white pillows and heavenly soft covers a paradise all to themselves. In that instant, she wished nothing more than to tear them apart and lie down in a pit of burning coals instead. She curled up into a foetal position, trying to drown out the happy sounds that felt more like stabs than anything the little ice fairy had managed.

Her mind drifted back into the afternoon. The pain from the blade of ice, the clear-cut wound it had cut into her flesh, had been honest and cleansing, nothing like the insidious pain of averted gazes and the shunning of other celestials. With that pain, she had momentarily forgotten all else but the crimson drops falling into the grass, more beautiful than rubies.

The sounds of celebration grew louder, and the light of colourful paper lanterns merged with the light of the moon. Tenshi smothered her head beneath her mountain of pillows and dreamt of a swift retribution to everyone around her. She would cut down everyone for ignoring her and made fun of her, or simply for not loving her as far as her parents were concerned like her parents had, until the laughter finally ended and all of Bhava-Agra was utterly soaked in blood.

Just before she fell asleep, she saw in her mind's eye again the ice fairy, the cocky, but honest grin on her face, her boastful pose, and the strange kind of purity that Paradise despite all of its claims lacked. Most of all, she recalled the wonderful, clean pain, which she visualised as a beautiful white flame, untainted by Heaven's hypocrisy.

She unconsciously touched her palm, and the wound that had already scarred over. When she woke up, it would be nothing more than a memory.

Yes, she would pay Cirno another visit. As soon as possible, in fact.

And with that thought, she finally drifted to the land of sleep.


	2. Like a Sword

There is no illness in Paradise.

There are no diseases within its boundaries. There are no wounds that will not heal, no headaches, no broken limbs. There are no fevers, no upset stomachs, nothing but the prime of physical health.

There is no illness in Paradise.

* * *

><p>"Eldest Daughter!"<p>

Tenshi flipped her hair over her shoulder and wilfully ignored Iku's call, stomping towards the edge of Paradise as if she had heard nothing.

"Eldest Daughter! Where are you going?"

"Mind you own business!" Tenshi yelled without turning back.

"It is my business, as you well know, Eldest Daughter. Even if this arrangement displeases you, it is your parents' will, and thus we must all accommodate to it—"

"Oh yes, because it's not this it's a pain in the ass for everyone except them." Tenshi whirled around. Iku had been following her tenaciously and now came to a halt, her heavenly garb billowing softly around her. "Look, I'm not some human toddler you have to watch every second in case I scrape my knee. I'll be out of your hair the whole day, so why don't you just go back and do whatever you usually do when you're not stalking me."

Iku sighed and put her hands together as if in prayer. "I have a duty I must heed, Eldest Daughter. I am not supposed to allow you to leave Bhava-Agra without supervision."

"No-one cares but you! My parents only care because they think I'm going to cause more trouble." She put on as serious a face as possible. "I'm not. Honest. I have better things to do."

Iku sighed again. Tenshi loathed that sound almost as much as she loathed the sounds of merriment. Iku never ceased sighing around her, or shaking her head, or folding her arms, or calling out her stupid title in the most disproving manner possible, like a long-suffering nanny of an ill-behaved child. Tenshi was sick of being treated like a child. After five centuries frozen in early adolescence, with no chance to further mature physically, one of her chief desires was to be treated according to her age despite her stunted growth.

Iku tilted her head and focused intently for a moment. She straightened out, and with a somewhat different tone asked: "Are you well, Eldest Daughter?"

Now it was Tenshi's turn to sigh. "I already told you I wouldn't cause any trouble."

"That is not what I asked."

"I know it's what you meant."

"Eldest Daughter, I meant what I said. Are you well?"

Yes, she would say she meant it, and expect Tenshi to swallow it hook line and sinker, like she was still willing to buy whatever rot her elders wished her to buy without question. As if anyone actually cared about her well-being, or considered her more than at best a petulant child, or at worst nothing but a burden. Tenshi scoffed. "Why don't you just read the atmosphere and figure it out?"

"That is precisely what I'm doing."

"Bah." Tenshi buried the ball of hatred she carried in her soul deep within her mind before responding. "I'm fine. I'm just going down to see a friend. That should be fine with Mother and Father."

Iku blinked. "You have a friend in Gensoukyou?"

"That's what I said."

"Well," Iku looked doubtful. Tenshi wished she would drop dead. "Even so, you're not supposed to leave, Eldest Daughter..."

"Just turn a blind eye. It's not like anyone but you will notice I'm gone."

Iku blushed. "Even if that would be the case, it's about the principle of things."

"Oh, not the atmosphere for once?" Tenshi snorted. "And you know just as well as I do that what I said is true. Just go take a nap or something. You'd like."

"Eldest Daughter, this is not about whether I'd enjoy a not. This is about duty: not just mine, but yours as well, as the daughter of the—" Iku had closed her eyes during her harangue, and now blinked rapidly. "Eldest Daughter!"

Tenshi kept running, ignoring Iku's cries. Let the stupid oarfish catch her if she could. A game of cat and mouse could serve as a nice warm-up before the main event of the day.

She looked over her shoulder. Iku hadn't followed her. She looked on at Tenshi with her hand on her head, and while Tenshi was too far away to hear it, she could see her sigh.

Bah.

Tenshi kept going, using all the power she could muster to move her legs, holding her hat with one hand. It would have been easier to have a strap on the hat, like she had had as a child, but would she be ready to face the mockery that would follow from it?

She narrowed her eyes. What the hell. As if she'd even notice the difference. After all, she didn't care. At all. Besides what did it really matter if he lost her hat? Let the wind carry it away. Searching for it could serve as the prelude Iku's pursuit would not.

Iku was finally advancing towards her, flying rapidly through the air, surrounded by electricity. However, she would never catch Tenshi.

With one final step, Tenshi reached the edge of Bhava-Agra, and launched herself into the air, free-falling with her limbs spread far and wide. The wind swept over her, violently flapping her hair and the hems of her apron and skirts. Another current swept her hat away.

Beneath her, Gensoukyou opened up, with its scenic mountains and lush forests. Tenshi named all the buildings she could, and scoffed at the feeble creatures, human and youkai alike, who had built them. She saw Misty Lake, like a blue eye in the middle of a green face, and smiled without noticing. She kept flying down, seeing how long she could stay in a free-fall go without crashing into the ground, holding her arms out as if to embrace the land that could so easily grind her bones into powder if she allowed it to happen.

* * *

><p>After some moments spent scurrying through the woods to evade Iku's gaze, and several more searching for her hat, Tenshi made her way towards Misty Lake.<p>

She descended into a small forest, not far from the meadow she had been to the day before, and began wading through the verdant bushes and ferns, like a lake of plants by the lake of water. The woods were unkempt, with overgrown and withering plants among the perfectly blooming ones, wild in a way that would never be allowed in the meticulously resplendent and endless gardens of Bhava-Agra. There was calmness in the air that made its way into her circulation and set her mind at ease. This kind of ugly beauty, with parts rotting away, was so far removed from her world that it was fascinating despite its grotesqueness. Had she really lived amidst these plants one day, with her feet covered in mud and wild flowers in her hair?

The image brought back her black thoughts, and she focused on Cirno instead. Perhaps Cirno would not be there that day, but that couldn't be helped: she couldn't exactly make formal agreements with someone so beneath her status, after all. She would have to rely on luck, and if that failed, her wits and eyes to scour Gensoukyou for the damned ice fairy.

However, a search operation proved unnecessary. As soon as the thought crossed her mind and saw the lake through the trees, there was Cirno's laughter, intermingled with another high-pitched voice. Swiftly, Tenshi made her way behind an oak tree growing in the grove, and peered past its bountiful branches at the two fairies. One was Cirno: the icy blue hair and the loud, cheerful voice were unmistakable. The second looked much like the common flower fairies of Gensoukyou, except notably taller: she had her green hair tied into a surprisingly neat side ponytail.

Tenshi couldn't make out the words, but even from this distance, just by the expressions and gestures and the tone of voices it was evident the two were acquaintances, and more likely than not close friends. Cirno smiled raucously, the and the fairy quivered with laughter, and they playfully shoved each other. Their conversation was happy and animated, and the more Tenshi looked on, the more she loathed both of them.

She tore her gaze away and sat on the grass, back against the tree trunk. It only made sense Cirno had friends — Tenshi quickly corrected herself from thinking "other friends": she and Cirno had never been friends and never would be. Why wouldn't all the fairies want to be friends with someone so brimming with life, so cheerful, so upbeat, so foolish and incapable of seeing the vacuousness of either other or herself?

Tenshi closed her eyes and sank into her reveries. Instantly, she found herself transported several centuries back in time, when everything in Heaven had already lost its lustre but still felt fluffier than it did at present time; back when she had still believed she could win her parents' affection and attention by being sweet and demure, positively angelic. She had had a friend, then, a friend with peach-coloured hair and a kindly smile. Even now, Tenshi could see her approaching her, the beauty mark on her left cheek bouncing up as she smiled and took Tenshi's hand. It was a festival, as it was every day, and various lights like the paper lanterns of earth shone in innumerable colours. Tenshi's friend had led her to her posse, with pastel hair and false smile, and Tenshi felt her own mouth twisting into a smile as bogus as theirs. But it had been a genuine smile when her friend looked at her, reacted to the few remarks she forced herself to make, laughed at her jokes, and in general made her feel like the sun had dawned inside her, at least before the doubt growing within her poisoned tainted it.

She had suspected it, almost from the very beginning. Since when did people approach recluses and strike up a friendly conversation with them, and genuinely attempt to befriend them? Even when Tenshi's heart had been about to burst with the happiness of being accepted, with how wonderful her friend was, she had wondered if she really liked her at all. Her friend was a social butterfly who treated everyone kindly: perhaps she felt obligated to keep Tenshi company no matter how much she in reality bored her? Or worse yet, perhaps she was a false friend entirely, with some dark intention for why she tried to win Tenshi's trust? She didn't put much stock to the latter idea, but often felt so unlovable the former thought germinated with vigour. She was nothing special, had no interesting skills, had nothing to offer, let alone to someone as bubbly and clever as her peach-coloured friend. How could anyone care about her?

Other days, when her mood had been better, she had allowed herself to tip her toes in the pool of friendship, each time a little further. Perhaps her friend was so wonderful she could like even Tenshi, and perhaps, perhaps, there was something in Tenshi that was lovable after all. Her other friends she never cottoned to, feeling them to be vapid and good for nothing but rumours and trite partying, which Tenshi had long since grown tired of despite her veneer of interest. But maybe her friend was a real friend, one she could trust, one that would also make her a better person in turn...

Another memory swam in front of her mind's eye, quite without her input.

It was her parents, austere and dressed elegantly as always. Tenshi had hoped that after all this time, their faces in her memories would be hidden in shadows, but she saw them in crystal clarity. No matter how many years passed, Tenshi felt small in front of them, positively minuscule. Her mother opened her mouth to speak.

Tenshi rapidly opened her eyes, blinking away tears she hadn't even realised she had shed. Her expression, on its own, turned to steel.

Who cared, now? Not Tenshi. She knew no-one would ever like her for what she was, and that any pretence would only go so far. So, why did it matter if she had let herself go? The damage she had done to her relationships with everyone around had been beyond repair for centuries. It didn't matter what she would do, no matter what, so the least she should try would be to derive all the pleasure she could possibly find in this wretched, stupid life.

She turned her attention back to the two fairies. The tall fairy said something indistinct to Cirno and rouse to the air, flying towards the west. Cirno waved after her, then waded into the water and crouched down, doing something Tenshi couldn't see.

Tenshi waited for a few moments, then exited the woods and sauntered forward through the wet grass to see what the crouched ice fairy was doing. "What are you playing at, then?"

Cirno looked over her shoulder, idly conjuring more ice between her hands without looking. "What does it look like? I'm freezing frogs."

Tenshi snorted, then eyed the frozen amphibians, green lumps barely visible through the thick ice, lying helplessly in the grass. "Ah, yes. Is that really the best the strongest of all the fairies?"

Cirno finished freezing the frog in front of her and turned to give Tenshi the evil eye. "Of course it's not. It's just fun."

"Right. And you're not just saying that because you know it is in fact the best you can do, and you're just trying to clumsily cover it up so that the reputation of your louse-like kind doesn't sink even further into the mire?"

Cirno stared at her. "You're stupid." Then, with an exaggerated flounce, she jumped into the creek, her bare feet disappearing into the water. She walked carefully into the reeds, presumably looking for more frogs.

Tenshi scoffed and followed after her, stepping in with her arms folded, not bothering to remove her boots. The hems of her skirts were immediately soaked and began weighting her down, so she made extra care to stomp forward with excess vigour.

Cirno glared at her again. "You're scaring away the frogs!"

"That's what happens when you call me stupid without explaining why."

Cirno rolled her eyes. "You really are stupid, then. You're stupid because you think freezing frogs is the best I can do even though I managed to hurt you. What are you, a goldfish?"

"Goldfishes have month-long memories," Tenshi said, repeating some idle trivia Iku had once shared with her. "And as far as our wager goes, it has not been settled yet. You drew my blood, certainly, but if you think that actually harmed me, you have another thing coming. See?" She thrust her fully healed hand right into Cirno's face.

Cirno's mouth fell open. "Huh? Then why did you bow to me?"

Tenshi smirked. "I was making fun of you."

Cirno's shoulders slumped, crestfallen. "No way." Then, she frowned. "That's not fair!"

"Know what is fair, however?" Tenshi turned her thrust palm into an extended hand. "If you come with me, I'll let you have a second go at me. If you really didn't use all of your strength yesterday, today's the day to do it. Pit everything you have against me, and perhaps you will impress me today."

Cirno seemed to consider her offer, hand on her chin. "I really didn't hurt you yesterday?"

"Not a bit," Tenshi lied smoothly. "What? Did I look like I was in pain? You must be joking."

Cirno didn't look entirely convinced. "You kinda winced."

"That was merely in surprise: I couldn't believe you had even managed as much as to break my skin. Still, that doesn't mean you actually succeeded." Tenshi raised her chin. "So, are you prepared to defend to honour of the fairies?"

Cirno's eyes darkened. She cracked her knuckles. "You bet I am! I'll freeze you so badly you'll think another ice age has come!"

"Oh, excellent. You think you can cause me pain with cold air?" Tenshi leaned in closer until her hair brushed Cirno's shoulders. "I'll give you a free hint: you will need the sharpest blades you can even imagine to actually hurt me."

Cirno grinned. "I'm going to show you winter in the middle of summer!"

Tenshi responded in kind. "Please."

* * *

><p>"Again."<p>

Tenshi spread her arms wide and took the entirety of yet another volley of ice shards. Crusts of ice pierced the fabric of her shirt and grazed her skin, then shards sharp as razor blades bit into her, searing her flesh and slicing endless minute cuts into her torso. At the moment of impact, the pain washed away all unrelated emotion, and Tenshi had to bite her lip to hold back a sob as her entire body was wrapped in excitement and satisfaction none of the joys of Heaven could ever match.

"Again," she whispered. "Again."

Cirno visibly hesitated, lowering her hand. "Are you sure you're okay? That looks bad."

Tenshi scowled, but managed to turn it into a bitter grin. The initial euphoria was fading away as the wounds began to burn, and she had no time for hesitation. "What, do you think you're honestly capable of hurting me? I felt nothing. This," She gestured in front of her body, "this will be healed by the next time you see me." It was true too, or at least, the part about recuperation was: the Celestial speed of recovery could match that of many youkai. Not even a scar remained of the much deeper cut on her palm from their first encounter. "So, unless you want to prove that even the strongest of fairies is absolutely no match to Celestials, I suggest you keep going."

Cirno frowned, her guileless face clearly legible: she wanted to buy Tenshi words, but the marred flesh and specks of blood right in front of her made her hesitate. To make her choice easier, Tenshi folded one of her arms over her chest and examined her fingernails.

"That was just cooling up." Cirno cracked her knuckles and raised her hands. A visible miasma of frost surrounded her. "I'll show you exactly what fairies can do."

"Cooling up?" Tenshi sneered. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's like warming up, but the opposite."

Tenshi rolled her eyes. "Let me guess: you're also the height of wit around your kind?"

"Nah, Dai-chan's jokes are way funnier..." The momentary blissful smile on Cirno face vanished as realisation dawned. "Hey! You think I'm too stupid to catch that?"

Tenshi spread her arms wide and took a bow. "Perhaps I did. Well, you know how to pay back: just show me that you're actually capable of hurting me." She looked on eagerly as the blades of ice manifested, larger this time and glimmering with dangerous sharpness. How thrilling it would be to be stung by the specks, then penetrated by those blades and see them be washed over with her blood, to bleed, to die, to leave this dull, hateful world behind her.

She looked on unblinking as Cirno released the volley, and savoured every ounce of pain she could derive from it.

"Are you sure it doesn't hurt?" Cirno looked anxious and fidgeted with her hands.

"It doesn't." It was almost the truth, too; the pain had already begun to give way to a sharp stinging sensation, regret following in the wake of pleasure. She looked down a her chest and savoured the cuts and deep stabs visible through the remnants of her shirt. "I'm fine." Had she been injured like this while still an earthling, so long ago Tenshi could only remember vague flashes of the time, she probably would have lived through the wounds, but not without weeks of agony and soreness. Now, it was simply a matter of returning of Bhava-agra and waiting for a while, and all mortal perils would be swept away.

She clenched her fists. "One more for luck."

Cirno blinked rapidly. "One more? I don't know..." Despite Tenshi's best reassurances, it was evident Cirno doubted something. Her eyes kept flittering back to the mesh of red and white that was Tenshi's chest, biting her lip.

"Thinking I'm hurt is insulting the pride of the Celestials!" Tenshi slammed her hand against her chest for emphasis, and sighed in relief as a fresh wave of pain flooded into her. "Perhaps to you pathetic earthlings, this would be painful, but to me they mean less than mosquito bites. That's what fairies are to me if you can't shape up, weaker than mosquitoes!"

Cirno gave her a dirty look.

Tenshi smirked. "That's the spirit. Now," spread her arms, "one more for luck."

* * *

><p>"Eldest Daughter!"<p>

Tenshi rolled her eyes. Perhaps she should have expected Iku to catch up with her mere moment after she returned to Paradise, but the sight of her and hearing her reproachful tone didn't exactly improve her mood regardless. She wrapped her hands around her torso in an attempt to cover the wounds on her body. "What, did someone actually notice I was gone?"

She passed by Iku without stopping, and heard her flying after her.

"That is not the point here, Eldest Daughter. You run off to Gensoukyou and return with a strange atmosphere, and then attempt to brush me off. I must punish you."

Tenshi sighed. "Oh, goody." Before, Iku's lighting bolts had served to jolt her out of her torpor much like Cirno's ice did, but with time she had became inured to them. Now they were barely noticeable from her usual numbness.

"Eldest Daughter, please look at me when I'm talking to you." Iku clapped her hand on her shoulder, and when Tenshi didn't shrug it off, gently but irresistibly turned her around. Tenshi prepared her best glare for Iku.

However, even if Iku noticed the glare, something else quickly drew her attention away from it.

"Eldest Daughter..." she mumbled, staring at Tenshi's torso, "What on heaven and earth happened to you? We must get you aid, immediately! Who did this?"

"Mind your own damn business, Iku!" Tenshi snapped, her hands curling into fists on their own. "I wasn't doing anything! I haven't done anything wrong!"

"You haven't done anything?" Iku asked incredulously. "Your shirt is in tatters! Your body is covered in lacerations? Something happened, whether you admit it or not. There is no reason to deny it!"

"Shut up! Like it matters to you. You're just nosy."

Iku touched the bridge of her nose in a gesture that never failed to annoy Tenshi. "Eldest Daughter, whatever happened, you can tell me. If it is something sensitive that is of no consequence to the rest of Bhava-Agra, I can agree not to tell your parents at present time. However, you must tell me what's ailing you. Your atmosphere is dreadful."

"Maybe it's just because I'm dreadful."

Iku sighed. "No, Eldest Daughter. Please, speak to me. I am aware that something is amiss, but I cannot assist if I have no understanding of the situation."

"And did I ask for your help? Or your opinion?" Tenshi hissed. She tossed her head and began stalking away, certain that it wouldn't rid her of Iku, but being unable to stand still and take her nonsense any longer regardless. "Just so you know, I can take care of myself! I am not a child!"

Iku's usually level complexion darkened. "I could have been fooled by your current behaviour."

"Shut it!" Tenshi felt her cheeks redden, but she was beyond caring. "Can't you see that I'm fed up with all this rot? Leave me alone for crying out loud. I don't want to see you! I don't want to see any of you! I hate you all!"

The words didn't succeed in having their intended effect: instead of enraging Iku, the oarfish looked down and sighed. The sight served to make Tenshi's blood boil even further.

"Eldest Daughter," Iku sighed, leaning forward and extending her arm. Without thinking, Tenshi slapped her hand away, and for an encore took a step forward and shoved Iku backwards. As Iku was still floating, the push failed to make her topple, but it did make her wobble and back off a bit. She stared at Tenshi with widening eyes.

"Eldest Daughter, do you really wish me to punish you?" She said in a low voice.

"Go ahead!" Tenshi let all her defences down. "That's all you're good for anyway. Punch me, shove me, zap me! See how much difference that's going to make!"

She half expected Iku to raise her arm and send a bolt of lightning through her right there and then, but it never came. Rather, Iku seemed fixated on the still fresh wounds on Tenshi body, and slowly moved out of her battle stance.

"You are correct, Eldest Daughter. I can see it won't make a difference." There was a tinge of pain in Iku's eyes. "Please, Eldest Daughter. Speak to me. Tell me what is ailing you. I assure you that I will do what I can to help you."

"Right." Tenshi folded her arms. "You care about me all of a sudden."

"Why wouldn't I care, Eldest Daughter?"

"Why would you?" Tenshi gave Iku her best scowl and unfolded her arms. "You know what? I hate many people. I hate all the people who bullied me. I hate my parents for not doing anything about it. But more than them, I hate you. I hate you!" she suddenly roared, making Iku flinch. "I hate you more than anyone! The sight of you makes me want to puke!"I never want to see you ever again!" There was a flash of pain in Iku's eyes, and even as Tenshi knew she was winning, her stomach began to churn. What if Iku really had cared about Tenshi? What if her concern wasn't entirely selfish? If so, all that would certainly be obliterated now.

"Don't you hear me?" she continued, blinking away tears she couldn't control. "Leave me alone, you disgusting, repulsive, idiotic fish! If I ever see you again I'll cut your face into ribbons!"

Iku floated mutely in place, mouth open and eyes wide. When she spoke, her voice quivered. "Eldest Daughter..."

"Shut up! Just leave me alone, you disgusting creature!" Unable to face the hurt in Iku's eyes any longer, simmering with both anger and regret she couldn't quite convince herself was baseless, she ran away.

This time, she didn't look back.

This time, Iku never followed her.


End file.
